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Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Loan Officer Compensation Changes Scheduled Today

Last Thursday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued a temporary stay on the implementation of new laws regulating loan officer compensation. The stay came in appellate court after motions for temporary restraining orders by the National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB) and the National Association of Independent Housing Professionals (NAIHP) failed in district court.

When the stay was issued, the court gave the government until Monday, April 4th, to answer the concerns of NAMB and NAIHP. Their response to the legal issues raised by NAMB and NAIHP can be found here. NAMB and NAIHP had until today (April 5th) at 10 AM to file a response to the government’s response (click here to read response). A further hearing on the matter is expected today.

The rules, originally due to take effect on Friday, April 1st, were intended to prevent loan officers from taking advantage of borrowers by:

Preventing loan officers from being compensated by both the borrower and the lender

Preventing loan officers from being compensated based upon the interest rate or other terms of a loan

Preventing loan officers from steering borrowers into a mortgage not in the borrower’s best interest in order to increase the loan officer’s compensation.

Although well-intentioned, many fear that the rules will increase consolidation in the industry, decrease competition, and eventually increase borrowing costs for consumers. Some also fear that the rule favors large banks and loan originators while hurting smaller lenders. In addition to the industry groups, some senators and representatives urged the Fed to wait to implement the changes.